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Friday, January 31, 2014

Spices are the ingredients used to flavor our food. They are mostly the dried parts of root, seed, vegetable or a fruit which have a strong flavor & used in very small quantities for cooking. Some spices are also known for their good healing properties & used widely all around the world.

Black Pepper's are the star of this month. They are widely used in Indian cooking & believed to help health problems like cold, digestion & are also widely used in Ayurvedic medicine.Black Pepper's are hot & empowering when they are added in a dish. So for the first month make a dish using Black Pepper's and share it here.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Halwa is basically a thick sweet dish & can be made with different flours & ingredients. I'm sharing a recipe for Besan ka halwa & it's is very famous in indian households. This dish contains lots of ghee & that is what flavors of this dish. To the ingredients below you can add grated coconut for twist to the recipe.

Cook Time-30mins | Yields-2 servings

Ingredients1Cup besan1Cup ghee / butter

1Cup milk

3/4Cup sugar (Adjust accordingly)

1/2Tsp elachi powder

6 Cashew's

- Heat a pan with butter. Add cashew & stir fry them till they change to light brown. Remove cashews from pan & keep aside.- To the pan add besan. Stir fry it carefully. You should fry it till it changes slight color.

- Immediately add milk & sugar to the besan and mix it well with out forming lumps. - Keep stirring until halwa becomes thick. Switch off heat. - Add elachi powder and fried cashews to it. Mix them well.

- Serve it warm & enjoy.

Note:

- Reduce the ghee content to 1/2 Cup if are concerned about the fat.

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Monday, January 27, 2014

Pickles & chutneys are my favorite side dishes. A south indian meal is never complete without them. It is also believed that having a spicy chutney as a course of your meal will help in good digestion.

The menthi avakaya I'm sharing is a temporary pickle & also has less oil compared to the traditional avakaya pickle.

Pulihora, a tangy flavored dish is a very well known dish in south indian states. Though it has different names based on a state, but the preparation remains almost same with little changes.The main ingredient of this dish is tamarind pulp & the seasoning we add enhances the flavor of it. This is a festive dish & is offered to god as prasad. It is also believed that offering this dish to lord vishnu is very auspicious.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Sable are french short bread cookies. The word Sable means "sand" in french & represents how these cookies are soft & have a grainy outside.will melt in your mouth.These are travel friendly & are perfect to go snack. I made them eggless & they were buttery soft & you can never make a difference.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Dhuska is a Bhojpuri dish & made for festive preparations. This is actually a deep fired dish but I made it a pan fried to make it healthy & got this idea from vaishali sabani's blog. I enjoyed them with no guilt & felt awesome. Here I have added both methods of making them.

Ghugni is an East Indian dish, which is also enjoyed as an evening snack. I used yellow peas in this curry but you can replace them with white peas or black gram. Ghugni can also be served as a side dish with roti or pulka's. I served it along with Dhuska & the combo tasted very delicious.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Majjiga pulusu,a south indian style kadhi is made of buttermilk / curd along with different spices that add a rich flavor to the recipe. I'm sharing a different variation of majjiga pulusu in which you add a little bit off masala to give a kick to the comforting dish.

Serves 2 people

Ingredients

1 Cup thick yogurt

3/4 Cup water

1 Cup onion chopped

1 Cup tomato thinly sliced

2 Tsp ginger garlic

1 Tbs oil

Salt

Masala (Grind it)

1 Tbs poppy seeds

1 Tbs coriander seeds

1 Tbs fennel seeds

1/2 Tsp turmeric

5 Red chili's ( adjust acc. to your spice level)

Seasoning

1 Tbs oil

1 Tsp mustards

1 Tsp jeera

2 Red chili's cut equally

Few curry leaves

1/2 Tsp Hing

- Grind all the masala ingredients to smooth paste by adding little by little water.

- Heat pan with oil. To that add onion & fry them till they are transparent.

- Add ginger garlic paste to pan & stir fry it for 1min.

- Now add tomatoes to the pan & stir fry for 1min.Then add masala paste & salt to the pan.

- Close it with a lid. Allow the ingredients to steam cook for 5mins or till tomatoes are cooked well.

- Mix yogurt & water well. It looks like a thick butter milk.

- Add the butter milk to pan & allow it to cook in low heat for 3mins & not more than that.Switch off heat & majjiga pulusu is almost done.